WO2015190154A1

WO2015190154A1 - Server apparatus, control system, and control method

Info

Publication number: WO2015190154A1
Application number: PCT/JP2015/059079
Authority: WO
Inventors: 山田　雄介; 美鈴川村
Original assignee: シャープ株式会社
Priority date: 2014-06-11
Filing date: 2015-03-25
Publication date: 2015-12-17
Also published as: JP2016001777A; JP6576021B2; US10365621B2; US20170146969A1; CN106165441B; CN106165441A

Abstract

This server apparatus is provided with a terminal-side reception unit (303), a device-side reception unit (301), and a storage unit (302). From a terminal apparatus operated by a user, the terminal-side reception unit (303) receives, via a first network, information including device information that allows the identification of electrical devices. The device-side reception unit (301) receives, via a second network, information including information relating to the states of electrical devices and identifiers for said electrical devices. When trigger information is received by the terminal-side reception unit, the storage unit (302) stores the following in association with each other: the device information received by the terminal-side reception unit; and the identifiers for electrical devices for which it is determined, from the information received by the device-side reception unit relating to the state of that electrical device, that the state of that electrical device has changed.

Description

Server apparatus, control system, and control method

The present invention relates to a server device, a control system, and a control method, and more particularly to a server device, a control system, and a control method for remotely operating and monitoring a device using a terminal device.

Various technologies have been proposed for remotely operating and monitoring electrical devices such as home appliances including air conditioners or lighting equipment using terminal devices such as smartphones and tablets. In such a control system, generally, an electric device has a communication function and can communicate with a server directly or via a HEMS controller, and a terminal device issues a control instruction via the server. The HEMS controller is an energy management system (HEMS) that visualizes the amount of electricity used for homes, controls equipment for power saving (reducing carbon dioxide emissions), controls renewable energy such as solar generators, and storage capacitors. Refers to the controller used in

As an example of such remote operation / monitoring, the controller of Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2012-133964 (hereinafter referred to as Patent Document 1) outputs information related to the power consumption of the device acquired by remote monitoring to the user. Be aware of the amount of use. Further, the controller of Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2012-173860 (hereinafter referred to as Patent Document 2) determines whether or not the operation state of the home appliance is preferable by remote monitoring.

JP 2012-133864 A JP 2012-173860 A

When a terminal device such as a smartphone or a tablet is used to remotely monitor or operate an electric device, a control system has been proposed in which the terminal device operates / monitors a desired electric device via a server and a HEMS controller. Yes. In order to remotely operate / monitor a desired electrical device from a terminal device, a user's desired electrical device is detected from electrical devices that can communicate with the HEMS controller in advance, and information for associating the two is prepared. It is necessary to keep. However,

Patent Documents

1 and 2 do not propose any technique for such association.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a server device, a control system, and a server device that can acquire information associating an electrical device connected to the control system with an electrical device that is a user's desired remote operation / monitoring target. It is to provide a control method.

A server device according to an aspect of the present invention includes: a terminal-side receiving unit that receives information including device information that can specify an electrical device from a terminal device operated by a user via a first network; An apparatus-side receiving unit that receives information including information on the state of the electric device together with the identifier via the second network, device information received by the terminal-side receiving unit, and a state of the electric device received by the device-side receiving unit A storage unit that stores the identifier of the electrical device that is determined to have changed from the information by receiving the trigger information at the terminal-side receiving unit and storing the identifier.

Preferably, the first network is a server client type network in which the terminal device is a client and the server device is a server.

A control system according to another aspect of the present invention is a control system including a terminal device operated by a user and a server device, and the server device includes information including device information that can identify an electrical device from the terminal device. A terminal-side receiving unit that receives information via the first network, an apparatus-side receiving unit that receives information about the state of the electric device together with the identifier of the electric device via the second network, and a terminal-side receiving unit. Associating the received device information with the identifier of the electrical device determined to have changed from the information on the state of the electrical device received by the device-side receiving unit by receiving trigger information at the terminal-side receiving unit And a storage unit for storing the data.

According to another aspect of the present invention, the control method of the control unit that controls to store in the memory the information that can identify the electrical device and the identifier of the electrical device, from the terminal device operated by the user, Receives information including device information that can identify the electric device via the first network, and receives information including information on the state of the electric device together with the identifier of the electric device via the second network, and receives the information. The received device information and the identifier of the electrical device determined to have changed from the received information on the status of the electrical device are stored in the memory in association with each other by receiving the trigger information via the first network. To do.

According to the present invention, it is possible to acquire information associating an electric device that communicates with the control system and an electric device that is to be a remote operation / monitoring target desired by the user.

It is a figure which shows the specific example of a structure of the control system which concerns on this Embodiment. It is a block diagram which shows an example of the outline of the apparatus structure of the HEMS controller which concerns on this Embodiment. It is a block diagram which shows an example of the outline of the apparatus structure of the server which concerns on this Embodiment. It is a figure showing the hardware constitutions of the tap which concerns on this Embodiment. It is a figure showing the hardware constitutions of the terminal device which concerns on this Embodiment. It is a figure showing the hardware constitutions of the household appliances which concern on this Embodiment. (A) And (B) is a figure which shows the function structure of the HEMS controller and server which concern on this Embodiment. It is a figure which shows the communication sequence which concerns on this Embodiment. (A) And (B) is a figure which shows an example of the apparatus table which concerns on this Embodiment. (A) to (D) are diagrams showing an example of a device information table according to the present embodiment. (A) And (B) is a figure which shows the example of a screen concerning this Embodiment. (A) And (B) is a figure which shows the example of the tap table which concerns on this Embodiment. (A) to (D) are diagrams showing examples of tap information tables according to the present embodiment. It is a figure which shows the other example of the tap table which concerns on this Embodiment. (A) And (B) is a figure which shows the other example of the table of the tap information which concerns on this Embodiment.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. In the following description, the same parts are denoted by the same reference numerals. Their names and functions are also the same. Therefore, detailed description thereof will not be repeated.

In the present embodiment, the electric device includes a power consumption measuring instrument and a controlled device. The controlled device includes an electric appliance that is used in a house, and indicates an electric device that is driven by electric power supplied from the outside. Moreover, a house shows a house, an office, etc., for example.

<Outline of the embodiment>
The control system according to the present embodiment uses a terminal device (a terminal device 400 described later) such as a smartphone or a tablet to control a controlled device (home appliance 250 described later) or a measuring instrument (a tap 230 described later). ) For remote operation and monitoring. The terminal device acquires information on the state of the controlled device (operating state or the like) or the power consumption measured by the measuring device and displays it on the screen.

When operating the above control system, the electric device actually connected to the control system is uniquely associated with the electric device to be remotely operated / monitored by the user, that is, the information of both is linked. It is necessary to attach. In the present embodiment, a configuration for this association will be mainly described.

[First Embodiment]
<System configuration>
FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a specific example of the configuration of the control system according to the present embodiment. Referring to FIG. 1, the control system includes a server 300 and a system in the house. The system in the house relays communication via the network NT (corresponding to the second network) such as the Internet between the air conditioner (air conditioner) 200, the home appliances of the refrigerator 201 and the television 202, and the server 300. The HEMS controller 100, the broadband router 150, and the terminal device 400 which a user can carry are included. The terminal device 400 may be a stationary computer terminal. Further, the terminal device 400 can communicate with the server 300 or a system in the house outside the house via the network NTa (corresponding to the first network). Here, the air conditioner 200 can also be controlled by a remote controller (remote controller) 215.

In FIG. 1, three units of an air conditioner (hereinafter referred to as an air conditioner) 200, a refrigerator 201, and a television 202 are shown as home appliances, but these are examples, and there are a plurality (a plurality of types) of home appliances 250. It shall be possible. Here, air conditioner 200, refrigerator 201, and television 202 may be collectively referred to as home appliance 250.

The server 300 may be composed of a plurality of servers that share and cooperate with each other as described later, or may consist of a single server. The server 300 may be constituted by a general computer, can communicate with an indoor system via the network NT, and can communicate via a network NTa different from the terminal device 400.

The network NTa in FIG. 1 is a network including a mobile phone communication line network, and builds a server client model in which the server 300 is a server and the terminal device 400 is a client. The server client model network is already generalized and will not be described in detail. However, since the network NTa is a server client model as described above, the server receives a processing request from the client and performs actual processing. The result is returned to the client. Therefore, unless special processing is performed, the terminal device 400 as a client can transmit data to the server 300 at an arbitrary timing, while the server 300 cannot transmit data at an arbitrary timing.

Similarly, the network NT is the Internet, and a server client model is constructed in which the server 300 is a server and the HEMS controller 100 is a client. However, unlike the network NTa, the network NT of the present embodiment is based on a server client model, but by performing special processing, communication from the server 300 to the HEMS controller 100 on the client side is performed at an arbitrary timing. Is possible.

The HEMS controller 100 and each of the home appliances 250 are connected to the broadband router 150 and constitute the same subnet (network segment). The broadband router 150 includes at least a wired LAN (Local Area Network) and is connected to the HEMS controller 100 by a wired LAN. Preferably, the broadband router 150 also includes a wireless LAN, and is connected to the home appliances 250 and the like via a wireless LAN (or wired LAN). The HEMS controller 100 can be connected to a plurality of home appliances 250 (via the broadband router 150). The HEMS controller 100 can be connected to the network NT (via the broadband router 150) and communicates with the server 300 via the network NT.

Also, the HEMS controller 100 communicates with

taps

231 and 232 that are measurement devices. The refrigerator 201 is connected to the tap 231, and the television 202 is connected to the tap 232. The power plug 221 of the refrigerator 201 is inserted into the socket of the tap 231. The power plug 222 of the television 202 is inserted into the socket of the tap 232. The air conditioner 200 is not connected to the tap, and the power plug 220 is plugged into the outlet 210. The outlet corresponds to a plug insertion port for supplying power to the electrical equipment.

The

taps

231 and 232 are attached to the

outlets

211 and 212, respectively, and are supplied with power. As a result, power is also supplied to the home appliance 250 connected to the tap.

The

taps

231 and 232 have a power consumption measurement function and a communication function with the HEMS controller 100 for the home appliance 250 to be connected. For example, the tap 231 measures the power consumption of the refrigerator 201, and the tap 232 measures the power consumption of the television 202. Each transmits the measured power consumption to the HEMS controller 100. Hereinafter, for convenience of description, when the

taps

231 and 232 are expressed without being distinguished, they are referred to as taps 230. The air conditioner 200 has a function of measuring its own power consumption instead of connecting the tap 230, and transmits the measured power consumption to the HEMS controller 100, as will be described later.

Here, the HEMS controller 100 performs wireless communication with each of the home appliance 250 and the tap 230 by ZigBee (registered trademark), but is not limited to ZigBee communication. For example, wireless communication such as WiFi (registered trademark) or wired LAN (Local Area Network) may be performed.

<Configuration of HEMS controller>
FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a schematic configuration of the HEMS controller 100. Referring to FIG. 2, the HEMS controller 100 includes a CPU (Central Processing Unit) 10 for controlling the entire apparatus. Furthermore, a memory 13, an LED (Light Emitting Diode) 14 as an output unit, an operation unit 15 such as a switch, and a communication unit 16 connected to the CPU 10 are provided. For example, the memory 13 stores various data such as a ROM (Read Only Memory) 11 which is a memory for storing a program executed by the CPU 10 and status information of an electric device described later, and the CPU 10 executes the program. RAM (Random Access Memory) 12 which is a memory for serving as a work area when performing the operation. The communication unit 16 communicates with the home appliance 250, the tap 230, the broadband router 150, and the like.

2 is an example in which the device configuration of the HEMS controller 100 is simplified, and the device configuration of the HEMS controller 100 is not limited to the configuration of FIG. For example, the main body control device and the communication device of the home appliance 250 may be configured to be connected independently using a communication circuit such as a UART (Universal Asynchronous Receiver Transmitter).

<Server configuration>
FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a schematic device configuration of the server 300. Referring to FIG. 3, server 300 includes a CPU 30 for controlling the entire apparatus. Furthermore, a memory 34 connected to CPU 30 and a communication unit 35 for performing communication via network NT or NTa are included. As an example, the memory 34 is a ROM 31 that is a memory for storing a program executed by the CPU 30, a RAM 32 that is a memory for storing a calculation value or a work area when the CPU 30 executes the program, And an HDD (Hard Disk Drive) 33 as an example of a large-sized storage device.

As described above, the server 300 may be a general computer. Therefore, FIG. 3 shows a schematic configuration of a general computer. Needless to say, the configuration of the server 300 is not limited to the configuration of FIG. For example, the server 300 may further include an operation unit and a display for receiving a user operation input. In addition, as illustrated in FIG. 1, when the server 300 includes a plurality of devices, each server may further include a communication device for communicating with other devices.

<Tap configuration>
FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating the hardware configuration of the tap. Referring to FIG. 4, tap 230 includes a socket 2101 into which a power plug of a corresponding home appliance 250 is inserted, a plug 2102 to be plugged into an outlet, a shunt resistor 2103, a power supply unit 2104, an LED 2105, a setting button 2106, an antenna 2107, A power sensor unit 2110 for measuring power consumption of the corresponding home electric appliance 250, a wireless RF (Radio Frequency) built-in communication controller unit 2120, a wiring 2131, a wiring 2132, and a wiring 2133 are provided.

The wireless RF built-in communication controller unit 2120 includes a CPU 2121, a ROM 2122, a RAM 2123, a GPIO 2124, and a wireless RF unit 2125. The ROM 2122 stores programs executed by the CPU 2121. An LED 2105 and a setting button 2106 are connected to the wireless RF communication controller 2120. The ROM 2122 is generally composed of NVRAM (Non Volatile RAM).

The LED 2105 represents the data processing state of the tap based on a signal from the CPU 2121 by a blinking color and / or a lighting color. The setting button 2106 is operated by the user for setting the tap state and the operation content is output to the CPU 2121.

The power sensor unit 2110 is connected to the wiring 2131 and the wiring 2132 to detect a voltage (potential difference) between the two wirings and a current value of a current flowing through the shunt resistor 2103. In order to calculate electric power, the detected voltage value and current value are multiplied, and a digital signal indicating the multiplied value is subjected to digital / frequency conversion. The frequency signal obtained by the conversion is output to the GPIO 2124 of the wireless RF built-in communication controller unit 2120.

The CPU 2121 performs data conversion on the frequency signal acquired from the GPIO 2124, and the wireless RF unit 2125 transmits the signal obtained by the data conversion to the HEMS controller 100 using the antenna 2107.

The power supply unit 2104 is connected to the wiring 2132, converts AC power obtained from the wiring 2132 into DC power, and supplies the converted power to the power sensor unit 2110 and the wireless RF built-in communication controller unit 2120.

<Configuration of terminal device>
FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a hardware configuration of the terminal device 400. Referring to FIG. 5, terminal device 400 includes a CPU 4010, a touch screen 4020, a clock 4030 for measuring time, a memory 4040, a button 4050 such as power ON / OFF, a communication interface 4060, and a speaker 4070. The touch screen 4020 constitutes a display-integrated input device composed of a display 4021 and a touch panel (tablet) 4022. Alternatively, a display and an operation unit (buttons, keys, etc.) may be provided separately. Good.

The memory 4040 is realized by various types of RAM, ROM, flash memory, hard disk, and the like. The memory 4040 stores various programs executed by the CPU 4010 and various data read by the CPU 4010. The CPU 4010 executes various types of information processing and the like by executing various programs stored in the memory 4040.

The communication interface 4060 is controlled by the CPU 4010 to communicate with the server 300 via the network NTa.

<Configuration of home appliances>
FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating a hardware configuration of home appliance 250 according to the present embodiment. In the present embodiment, each of household electrical appliances 250 generally has the same configuration. Here, the air conditioner 200 will be described as a representative.

Referring to FIG. 6, the air conditioner 200 includes a CPU 240. Furthermore, a memory 241 connected to the CPU 240, a display unit 242 made up of LEDs, a button 244 operated by a user to give commands, a communication interface 245 for communicating with the HEMS controller 100, an air conditioner including a compressor and a motor, etc. A portion 247 and a sensor 249. Sensor 249 includes a sensor for measuring ambient temperature, humidity, and the like, a power sensor for measuring power consumption of air conditioner 200 itself, and the like.

The communication interface 245 communicates with the HEMS controller 100 or the remote controller 215 by being controlled by the CPU 240. The communication interface 245 has a wireless or wired communication function. Wireless includes functions such as LAN, ZigBee (registered trademark), Bluetooth (registered trademark), and infrared communication with the remote controller 215, and wired includes a LAN.

When the air conditioner 200 is connected to the tap 230, the power measurement function by the power sensor unit 2110 of the connected tap 230 can be used instead of the function of the power sensor of the sensor 249.

The memory 241 stores a control program executed by the CPU 210, a command input to the air conditioner 200, state data 241A indicating the state of the home appliance 250, and the like. The control program includes an air conditioning control program for controlling each unit of the air conditioning unit 247.

<State of home appliance 250>
The home appliance 250 can take several states. The state of power consumption includes a state related to power consumption. The state can be defined by one or more types of attribute values for controlling the operation of the electric device.

When the electric device receives a control command from the terminal device 400 from the remote controller 215 or via the HEMS controller 100, the electric device changes the operation state. The control command includes a power ON / OFF command and a state change command. The state change command includes a target operation amount (temperature, humidity, air volume, power consumption, etc.) regarding the attribute value.

When the CPU 240 receives the control command, the CPU 240 stores the operation amount of the command as the state data 241A of the memory 241. And according to this operation amount, an air-conditioning control program is executed. This controls the air conditioner 200 (more specifically, the air conditioner 247) to shift to the target operating state. If the operating state changes, for example, the rotational speed of the motor related to the compressor is different, and as a result, the power consumption of the air conditioner 200 changes. The CPU 240 has a function of detecting whether or not the state data 241A has changed from the previous value. Further, the detection result (presence / absence of state change) is notified (transmitted) to the HEMS controller 100. The status data 241A includes the presence / absence of a timer setting and the time. Further, measured power consumption data is stored in a predetermined area of the memory 241.

Thus, with respect to one or more types of attributes that define the state of the electrical equipment, the state can be changed using the value, and the presence or absence of the state change can be detected.

<Recognition of electrical equipment by HEMES controller>
In order to uniquely identify the tap 230, the HEMS controller 100 and the tap 230 perform pairing. In pairing, first, the user slides a slide switch (not shown) of the controller 100 from the NOP position to the JOIN position. Thereafter, the user presses a push button (not shown). Thereby, the HEMS controller 100 will be in a join permission state for a predetermined time (for example, 60 seconds). During this time, the CPU 10 causes the LED 14 to emit light in a predetermined state. Then, in a join permission state, the user plugs the plug 2102 of the tap 230 into an outlet (or operates the setting button 2106), so that the HEMS controller 100 and the tap 230 are paired. Pairing is performed individually for the tap 231 and the tap 232.

Pairing is performed in a ZigBee network including the HEMS controller 100, the home appliance 250, and the tap 230, and the HEMS controller 100 assigns a short address (also referred to as a network address) to the tap 231 and the tap 232, respectively. The short address is an address whose uniqueness is guaranteed in one ZigBee network. Thus, the short address is dynamically assigned by the HEMS controller 100 when the tap 230 joins the ZigBee network. Usually, once a short address is assigned, it is not changed.

When the short address is assigned by pairing, the tap 230 stores the short address in a predetermined area of the RAM 2123. When the tap 230 communicates with the HEMS controller 100, the address of the HEMS controller 100 acquired in advance and its own address are used as information for specifying the destination and the transmission destination.

In addition, in order to uniquely identify the home appliance 250, the home appliance 250 communicates with the HEMS controller 100 according to Echonet Light (registered trademark) and is recognized (assigned an address) by the HEMS controller 100. At the time of subsequent communication between the home appliance 250 and the HEMS controller 100, the address of the HEMS controller 100 acquired in advance (stored in the memory 241) and its own address may be used as information for specifying the destination and the transmission destination. it can.

<Functional configuration>
7A and 7B are diagrams showing functional configurations of the HEMS controller 100 and the server 300 according to the embodiment of the present invention. Referring to FIG. 7A, the HEMS controller 100 for relaying communication between the server 300 and the electrical device includes an ID acquisition unit 101 that acquires an identifier (ID) of the home appliance 250, the tap 230, and the like. The device information receiving unit 102 that receives device information of the monitoring property of the electric device by communicating with the server 300, and the storage unit for storing information in the device table 131, the tap table 132 (described later) of the memory 13, etc. 103, an ID transmission unit 105 that transmits the acquired identifier of the home appliance 250 to the server 300, and a state acquisition unit 104 that acquires the state of the electrical device through communication. The storage unit 103 associates the device identifier acquired by the ID acquisition unit 101, the reception information by the device information reception unit 102, and the reception information by the state acquisition unit 104 with the device table 131 and the tap table 132 for each electric device. Store.

Referring to FIG. 7B, server 300 receives information including device information that can identify an electric device (such as home appliance 250) from terminal device 400 via the first network (network NTa). A terminal-side receiving unit 303, a device-side receiving unit 301 that receives information about the state of the electric device together with the identifier ID of the electric device via the second network (network NT), and a storage unit 302. . The storage unit 302 stores the device information received by the terminal-side receiving unit 303 and the identifier ID of the electric device determined to have changed from the information about the state of the electric device received by the device-side receiving unit 301. The trigger information from the terminal device 400 is received by the side receiving unit 303 and stored in the memory 34 in association with it. As described above, the association storage by the storage unit 302 is performed using a user operation (an operation of a “next” button 161 described later) in the terminal device 400 as a trigger. If the trigger can be given from the terminal device 400, the association is performed. The storage timing is not limited to the user operation.

The function of FIG. 7A is realized by a program executed by the CPU 10 or a combination of a program and a circuit, and the function of FIG. 7B is realized by a program executed by the CPU 30 or a combination of a program and a circuit. Is done.

<Overview of operation>
FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a communication sequence according to the embodiment of the present invention. In this communication sequence, processing performed in each of the air conditioner 200, the HEMS controller 100, the server 300, and the terminal device 400, which is an example of a controlled device, in order to register association information of an electric device is shown in association with communication. .

FIGS. 9A and 9B are diagrams showing a device table 131 of home appliances according to the embodiment of the present invention. 10A to 10D are diagrams showing device information tables 341A and 341B according to the embodiment of the present invention. The device table 131 is stored in a predetermined area of the memory 13 of the HEMS controller 100, and the device information tables 341 A and 341 B are stored in a predetermined area of the memory 34 of the server 300. These tables will be described later. FIGS. 11A and 11B are diagrams showing examples of screens according to the embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 8, the linking process for air conditioner 200, which is an example of an electric device, will be described using the functions of FIG. 7 as appropriate. This process is realized by executing a predetermined application program in the terminal device 400, the server 300, the HEMS controller 100, and each electric device.

First, processing RT is performed. Specifically, the HEMS controller 100 recognizes the air conditioner 200 through echo net light communication with the air conditioner 200 (step S1). The ID acquisition unit 101 of the HEMS controller 100 acquires the short address of the air conditioner 200 by recognition, and the storage unit 103 stores this in the device table 131 of FIG. 9A (step S3).

Referring to FIG. 9A, the device table 131 has one or more records. Each record is generated for each home appliance 250 that is detected to be connected by the process RT, and is registered in the device table 131. Each record has a record identifier No. , An identifier ID (identifier) of the home appliance 250 whose connection is detected, a monitoring property (details will be described later), and state data indicating an operation state are associated with each other. Here, identifier ID shows the short address of the household appliances 250, for example. FIG. 9A shows a state in which the identifier ID for the home appliance 250 (air conditioner 200) whose connection has been detected is registered in step S3. As long as data can be associated with each other, the data storage format of the device table 131 is not limited to the method using records.

Referring back to FIG. 8, the ID transmission unit 105 of the HEMS controller 100 transmits connection information (checkctrl) indicating that the connection of the new home appliance 250 (air conditioner 200) has been detected to the server 300 (step S5). The connection information includes the “identifier ID” registered in step S3. When the terminal side receiving unit 303 of the server 300 receives the connection information, the CPU 30 transmits a status notification request (control) (step S6). The status notification request (control) is a signal for requesting that the home appliance 250 (air conditioner 200) that detects the connection be notified if there is a change in the status of the electrical device acquired by the status acquisition unit 104. When the CPU 10 of the HEMS controller 100 receives a status notification request (control), the CPU 10 detects that there is a change in the status acquired by the status acquisition unit 104 for the home appliance 250 (air conditioner 200) that has detected the connection. The server 300 can be notified of a state change (see step S17 described later). Further, when transmitting the status notification request (control), the storage unit 302 of the server 300 stores the “identifier ID” of the received connection information in the device information tables 341A and 341B of FIGS. Register (step S7).

10A and 10B, the device information table mainly includes a table 341A that stores information for identifying home appliance 250 and a table 341B that stores monitoring properties of home appliance 250 and the like. Each table has one or more records. The CPU 30 generates a record for each “identifier ID” indicated by the connection information received from the HEMS controller 100 and registers the record in the device information tables 341A and 341B. Each record in the table 341A has a record identifier No. The received identifier ID, room name, and device name are included, and each record of the table 341B includes the received identifier ID, monitoring property, and state data in association with each other. FIGS. 10A and 10B show a state where the “identifier ID” received in step S7 is registered. As long as data can be associated with each other, the data storage format of the device information table 341 is not limited to the method using records.

Note that the monitoring property indicates one or more of operating state attributes (temperature, humidity, air volume, power consumption, etc. in the case of an air conditioner) to be monitored for an electric device (in this case, the air conditioner 200). Here, for example, it is assumed that temperature and power consumption are input.

Further, after inputting the device information, the user operates the touch screen 4020 to input a request for the air conditioner operation instruction screen. The CPU 4010 transmits a request for an air conditioner operation instruction screen to the server 300 (step S9).

When the server 300 receives the air conditioner operation instruction screen request, the server 300 transmits a response of the air conditioner operation instruction screen data to the terminal device 400 (step S11). The CPU 4010 of the terminal device 400 receives the air conditioner operation instruction screen data, and causes the display 4021 to display a screen based on the screen (see FIG. 11A) (step S13).

The user who confirms the message “Please turn on or off the air conditioner you want to set” on the screen of FIG. 11A operates the remote controller 215 to turn on the power of the air conditioner 200. At this time, in the air conditioner 200, the CPU 240 detects a state change and transmits a state change notification of “power ON” (step S15).

When the state acquisition unit 104 of the HEMS controller 100 receives the state change notification, the state acquisition unit 104 transmits a device state notification (check control command) for notifying the fact to the server 300 (step S17). The device-side receiving unit 301 of the server 300 receives the device status notification, and the storage unit 302 searches the table 341B based on the “identifier ID” of the received device status notification, and records the status data in the record having the “identifier ID”. “Power ON” is stored (step S19).

In the terminal device 400, the user operates the display screen of the touch screen 4020 to input the device information of the air conditioner 200. The input device information includes a device name, a room name in which the air conditioner 200 is installed, and a monitoring property. For example, “air conditioner” is entered as the device name, and “living room” is entered as the room name. Next, when the user operates the “Next” button 161 on the screen of FIG. 11A, the CPU 4010 requests a state change notification request (in order to request a state change notification about the electrical device connected to the HEMS controller 100). INF log acquisition API) is transmitted (step S21).

When the terminal side receiving unit 303 of the server 300 receives the state change notification request, the CPU 30 extracts the identifier ID from the information of the record whose information (state) has been updated most recently from the device information table 341B. Then, the extracted identifier ID, the previously input model name “air conditioner” and room name “living room” are stored in the association table 341A (step S22). FIG. 10C shows the table 341A after storage. If the association is successful, the fact is transmitted to the terminal device 400 (step S23) and displayed on the display 4021. An example of the display screen is shown in FIG.

Also, the device information receiving unit 102 of the HEMS controller 100 receives a signal including the monitoring property of the latest record (that is, the air conditioner 200) read from the device information table 341B from the server 300. The storage unit 103 stores the monitoring property included in the received signal in a record registered in the device table 131. As a result, the data in the device table 131 is updated from FIG. 9A to FIG. 9B.

The user can confirm from the display screen that the device information has been successfully linked to the air conditioner in the living room where the user has input the device information. That is, when the association of the device information of the air conditioner 200 is completed between the device information tables 341A and 341B of the server 300 and the device table 131 of the HEMS controller 100, the user can remotely operate and monitor the desired air conditioner. It is possible to confirm that the device information has been successfully set.

For example, in step S7, a table 341A having a model name “air conditioner”, a room name “living”, “ID”... “Is prepared (not shown), and in step S19. The identifier ID whose information (state) was most recently updated is recorded in the identifier ID, and in step S22, the identifier ID is registered in the table 341A (that is, updated to the table of FIG. 10C). You may make it attach.

In FIG. 8, after the user operates the “next” button 161 (that is, after the trigger information of the state change notification request (step S21) is transmitted), the CPU 4010 of the terminal device 400 responds from the server 300. And the required period until it is displayed on the display 4021 (step S47) is defined as a period of a predetermined length (for example, 1 minute). This response is for the server 300 to notify the HEMS controller 100 that device information set by the user, such as the attribute type, is set in the device table 131. Therefore, when the server 300 cannot perform the association within one minute, a predetermined screen for error processing may be displayed on the terminal device 400.

(Features of the embodiment)
In step S <b> 22 of FIG. 8, the CPU 30 determines the home appliance 250 corresponding to the extracted identifier ID as a device to be associated with the device information input by the user. The acquisition request and the monitoring property corresponding to the associated identifier ID are set by the user's device information saving operation. When the setting is received by the HEMS controller 100, the CPU 30 stores the device information in the tables 341A and 341B.

In the present embodiment, the state of home appliance 250 is acquired in step S21, and the identifier ID of home appliance 250 whose state has changed is extracted in step S22. A signal for associating (storing and storing) these pieces of information is transmitted from the terminal device 400 to the server 300 when the “next” button 161 is operated. The server 300 uses the reception of the signal from the terminal device 400 as a trigger and stores the information in association with the tables 341A and 341B (see FIGS. 10C and 10D).

As described above, in the terminal device 400, the server 300 uses the signal transmitted when the “next” button 161 is operated as a trigger, and the server 300 determines the identifier ID of the home appliance 250 that has been determined to have changed, and the user Device information (device name “air conditioner”, room name (“living”) in which home appliance 250 is installed), monitoring properties (including temperature, humidity, air volume, power consumption, etc. for air conditioners) .

Suppose a case where the above-described association is performed using the network NTa. In this case, since the network NTa is a server client model network, the identifier ID information of the home appliance 250 that is determined to have changed from the HEMS controller 100 side and the device information input by the user are immediately linked. Therefore, the processing load including communication is higher than that of the present embodiment. Specifically, the terminal device 400 such as a portable terminal needs to inquire whether or not the server 300 has acquired information on the identifier ID of the home appliance 250 whose state has been changed. In order for the terminal device 400 to accurately detect a change in state, it is necessary to execute the inquiry at a high frequency. In addition, since it can be assumed that a plurality of users communicate with the server 300 simultaneously via the network NTa, the load on the network NTa or the server 300 increases. On the other hand, when a signal generated by a user operation (operation of the “next” button 161) is used as a trigger as in the present embodiment, the signal is linked while reducing the communication signal amount and the internal processing load of the server 300. It becomes possible.

In addition, in this embodiment, the server 300 is realized by a single device. However, when the functions of the server 300 of this embodiment are realized by linking a plurality of servers, the state change of the previous device is performed. It can also be assumed that the functional block for acquiring the device and the functional block for acquiring the device information input by the user are constructed as separate servers. In such a case, even if communication between multiple servers is built using the server client model, the configuration is implemented using multiple servers by configuring the connection with the signal from the user operation as a trigger. In this case, it is possible to reduce the communication load between the servers and the processing load on the servers.

[Second Embodiment]
In the first embodiment, the association of the home appliance 250 (air conditioner 200) that is not connected to the tap 230 has been described. However, the association of the tap 230 that connects the household appliance 250 is performed in the same manner as in the first embodiment. It can be carried out as follows. In the second embodiment, the tap table 132 of FIG. 12, the tap information table 342A and the table 342B of FIG. 13 are used to manage the device information of the tap. These configurations are the same as the device table 131, the device information table 341A, and the table 341B, respectively. The tap table 132 is stored in a predetermined area of the memory 13 of the HEMS controller 100, and the tap information table 342 A and the table 342 B are stored in a predetermined area of the memory 34 of the server 300.

First, process RT is performed. In the process RT, pairing is performed for the tap 232 to which the living room TV 202 is connected by a user operation. As a result, the tap ID (“ID10”) corresponding to the short address assigned to the tap 232 is registered in the tap table 132 of the HEMS controller 100 (see FIG. 12A). The tap ID (“ID10”) of the tap 232 is also registered in the table 342A and the table 342B of 300 tap information (see FIGS. 13A and 13B). The tap information table 342 </ b> A indicates the name of the home appliance 250 connected to the tap 232 (that is, the name “TV” of the television 202). Other configurations of the tap information tables 342A and 342B are the same as the device information tables 341A and 341B.

After that, tap information (room name, device name, tap name, tap monitoring property, name of home appliance connected to the tap) corresponding to the device information input by the user operating the terminal device 400 is the same as in FIG. In addition, in the terminal device 400, a signal transmitted when the “next” button 161 is operated as a trigger, and the tap information is linked to the tap information tables 342 A and 342 B and the tap table 132 of the HEMS controller 100 in the server 300. (See FIGS. 13C and 13D and FIG. 12B).

Next, as for the tap 232 connected to the refrigerator 201 of the kitchen, the tying process can be performed in the same manner as the tap 231. As a result, the device information about both the

taps

231 and 232 is registered in the tap information tables 342A and 342B of the server 300 and the tap table 132 of the HEMS controller 100 (FIG. 14, FIG. 15A and FIG. )reference).

As described above, by registering device information in the tap table 132 and the tap information tables 342A and 342B, the user actually connects to the tap-connected home appliance 250 to be remotely operated and monitored and the control system in FIG. The device information of the tapped home appliance 250 can be uniquely associated.

<Modification>
In the above-described embodiment, the device table 131 and the tap table 132 are provided separately for the sake of explanation. However, the present invention is not limited to an embodiment in which the device table 131 and the tap table 132 are provided individually, and these two tables can be integrated into one table.

Also, the device information table 341A and the tap information table 342A are provided separately for the sake of explanation. However, the present invention is not limited to such an embodiment, and these two tables may be integrated into one table. That is, by setting the tap ID and the identifier ID of the home appliance 250 to be monitored / operated corresponding to one piece of device information (room name, device name, etc.), the device information table 341A and the tap information table 342A can also be integrated into a single table. Similarly, the device information table 341 </ b> B and the tap information table 342 </ b> B are not limited to being provided individually, and these two tables can be integrated into one table.

<Remote operation and monitoring of electrical equipment>
By using the device information table of the server 300 and the device table of the HEMS controller 100 that are the association information, the user can obtain the status and power consumption information from the air conditioner 200 of the controlled device, and the tap 231 of the measuring device. , 232, the power consumption information of the connected home appliances can be respectively acquired.

That is, in a control system including a server 300 that can communicate with the terminal device 400, and a HEMS controller 100 for relaying communication between the server 300 and an electric device (controlled device and measurement device). The HEMS controller 100 communicates with these electric devices, and obtains information on the state of the device specified by the monitoring property specified in the device table 131 (or the tap table 132) and the measured power consumption. The obtained device state and power consumption are stored in the device table 131 (or tap table 132) device information table of the memory 34 in association with the identifier ID of each electric device. The HEMS controller 100 transmits information (state corresponding to the identifier ID or power consumption information) read from the device table to the server 300. The server 300 notifies the terminal device 400 of the reception information from the HEMS controller 100 as the current state of the electrical equipment or measured power consumption.

At this time, the server 300 reads the room name, device name, etc. associated with the identifier ID of the received information from the device information tables 341A and 341B (or the tap information tables 342A and 342B) in the memory 34, and assigns them to the notification. To do. Based on the notification received from the server 300, the terminal device 400 displays the state of the device or the power consumption as an image or the like in association with the device name or the room name.

This allows the user to monitor the operating state and power consumption by associating (linking) the desired electrical device with the electrical device actually connected to the control system.

Further, when the home appliance 250 is remotely operated, when the user transmits (a desired device name and control command) from the terminal device 400, the user device 250 is transmitted to the server 300 via the HEMS controller 100. The server 300 searches the table 341A or 342B based on the device name of the received information, acquires the corresponding identifier ID, generates (identifier ID + control command), and transmits it to the HEMS controller 100. From the received information, the HEMS controller 100 transmits a control command to the home appliance indicated by the identifier ID. Thereby, the home appliance desired by the user can be monitored / operated in association with (associated with) the electrical device actually connected to the control system.

[Third Embodiment]
Further, it is possible to provide a program for causing the CPU 10 of the HEMS controller 100 and the CPU 30 of the server 300 to execute the operations described in the first embodiment or the second embodiment. As described above, the server 300 can be configured by a general computer. Therefore, by providing the program to the computer, the control system can be easily constructed using a general-purpose computer. Further, by providing the above program to a general-purpose computer, the general-purpose computer can function as the HEMS controller 100, and this control system can be easily constructed.

Such a program is recorded on a computer-readable recording medium such as a flexible disk attached to a computer, a CD-ROM (Compact Disk-Read Only Memory), a ROM, a RAM, and a memory card, and provided as a program product. You can also. Alternatively, the program can be provided by being recorded on a recording medium such as a hard disk built in the computer. A program can also be provided by downloading via a network.

The program according to the present invention is a program module that is provided as a part of a computer operating system (OS) and that calls necessary modules in a predetermined arrangement at a predetermined timing to execute processing. Also good. In that case, the program itself does not include the module, and the process is executed in cooperation with the OS. A program that does not include such a module can also be included in the program according to the present invention.

Further, the program according to the present invention may be provided by being incorporated in a part of another program. Even in this case, the program itself does not include the module included in the other program, and the process is executed in cooperation with the other program. Such a program incorporated in another program can also be included in the program according to the present invention.

The provided program product is installed in a program storage unit such as a hard disk and executed. The program product includes the program itself and a recording medium on which the program is recorded.

[Configuration of the embodiment]
The server 300 receives from the terminal device 400 operated by the user information including device information (device name, room name, etc.) that can identify the electric device via the first network NTa. And the device-side receiving unit 301 that receives information about the state of the electric device (such as power ON) together with the identifier (identifier ID) of the electric device via the second network NT and the terminal-side receiving unit 303. By receiving the trigger information at the terminal side receiving unit 303, the device information and the identifier of the electric device that is determined to have changed from the information about the state of the electric device received at the device side receiving unit 301, And a storage unit 302 that stores the data in association with each other.

The first network NTa described above is a server client type network in which the terminal device 400 is a client and the server 300 is a server.

A control system including a terminal device 400 operated by a user and a server 300, and the server 300 can identify device information (device name, room name, etc.) that can identify an electrical device (such as home appliance 250) from the terminal device 400. ) Including information on the state of the electric device (power ON, etc.) together with the identifier (identifier ID) of the electric device and the second network. It is determined that the device state has changed from the device information received by the device-side receiving unit 301 and the terminal-side receiving unit 303 received from the NT and the information on the state of the electric device received by the device-side receiving unit 301. A storage unit 302 that stores the device identifier in association with each other by receiving the trigger information at the terminal side reception unit 303.

This is a control method of the control unit (CPU 30) for controlling the information that can identify the electric device and the identifier (identifier ID) of the electric device to be stored in the memory in association with each other, from the terminal device 400 operated by the user Receives information including the device information (room name, device name, etc.) that can identify the electrical device via the first network NTa, and information on the state of the electrical device (power ON, etc.) together with the identifier of the electrical device Is received via the second network, and the received device information and the identifier of the electric device determined to have changed from the received information on the state of the electric device are indicated in the first network NTa. The trigger information is received via the link and stored in the memory in association.

The embodiment disclosed this time should be considered as illustrative in all points and not restrictive. The scope of the present invention is defined by the terms of the claims, rather than the description above, and is intended to include any modifications within the scope and meaning equivalent to the terms of the claims.

30 server, 100 HEMS controller, 101 ID acquisition unit, 103, 302 storage unit, 105 ID transmission unit, 131 device table, 132 tap table, 230 tap, 241A status data, 250 home appliance, 300 server, 301 device side reception unit , 303 terminal side receiving unit, 341A, 341B device information table, 342A, 342B tap information table, 400 terminal device.

Claims

From the terminal device operated by the user, a terminal side receiving unit that receives information including device information that can identify the electric device via the first network;
A device-side receiving unit for receiving information including information on the state of the electric device together with the identifier of the electric device via the second network;
The terminal-side receiving unit triggers the device information received by the terminal-side receiving unit and the identifier of the electric device determined to have changed from the information regarding the state of the electric device received by the device-side receiving unit. A server apparatus comprising: a storage unit that stores information in association with each other by receiving information.
2. The server device according to claim 1, wherein the first network is a server client type network in which the terminal device is a client and the server device is a server.
A control system comprising a terminal device operated by a user and a server device,
The server device
A terminal-side receiving unit that receives information including device information capable of specifying an electric device from the terminal device via the first network;
A device-side receiving unit for receiving information including information on the state of the electric device together with the identifier of the electric device via the second network;
The terminal-side receiving unit triggers the device information received by the terminal-side receiving unit and the identifier of the electric device determined to have changed from the information regarding the state of the electric device received by the device-side receiving unit. A control system including a storage unit that receives and stores information in association with each other.
It is a control method of a control unit that controls to store information that can identify an electrical device and an identifier of the electrical device in association with each other, and
From the terminal device operated by the user, information including device information that can identify the electrical device is received via the first network,
Receive information including information on the state of the electrical device along with the identifier of the electrical device via the second network,
By associating the received device information with the identifier of the electrical device that is determined to have changed the device status from the received information on the status of the electrical device via the first network, Control method to store in memory.